SHERMAN OAKS : Businessman to Pay $400,000 in Fraud

A Sherman Oaks man has been ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution for his role in a stationery supply scam that allegedly bilked businesses of more than $1 million, the U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday.

Harry Dennis Antonian, 44, was also sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay a criminal fine of $100,000 Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, after pleading guilty July 20 to one count of mail fraud, Assistant U.S. Atty. Harriet M. Rolnick said.

Antonian, the owner and president of National Industries of America, a Sherman Oaks-based business that sold stationery by telephone, headed a nationwide scam that defrauded companies by overcharging them for stationery supplies and by charging them up to 16% for handling fees and 5% for insurance charges, higher than the actual costs of such fees, Rolnick said.

To entice customers, Antonian would give gifts, gratuities and kickbacks to company purchasing agents to get them to order supplies for their employers at exorbitant prices, Rolnick said.

After the purchasing agents accepted gifts and money, National Industries salesmen would systematically increase the cost of the products, Rolnick said. The scam operated for more than three years and is estimated to have cost companies more than $1 million.